The One I Love
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: AU first ever book fanfic! Daine and her mother live in Tortall, in the countryside outside of one of the smaller villages. Numair shows up one night, he and his horse injured badly and in need of shelter. full summary inside DaineNumair
1. A Stranger in the Night

The One I Love

DG32173

Sarah: well, I've _never_ posted a story under the book category before. I don't own the books of Tortall; Tamora Pierce owns them! Read and review. Try to give me some constructive criticism, or say _something!_ I accept anonymous reviews, so that is no excuse whatsoever.

_**!!!WARNINGS!!!**_

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Okay, other than that, the fic is rated M for very adult content to come. You have been warned, so don't expect future warnings. I don't repeat warnings, new readers.

_**SUMMARY**_

Daine had always known she had more than just a knack for critters, but she didn't know _what_, exactly, it was she had. She lived in the countryside of Tortall with her mother, helping out and healing the local pets and wildlife. Her mother was the local hedge-witch, serving as a skilled healer and midwife. Then a mysterious mage showed up on their doorstep in search of a healer for his beloved horse and in need of a healer himself. During his stay with Daine and her mother while he and his horse heal, he realizes _what_ her gift is: wild magic. Daine reluctantly accepts the offer to travel and train with him. What does fate have in mind for them? **_Numair/Daine_**

_**NOTE**_

**(Authors note)**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Scene change

**POV change**

'_Daine and animals talking to each other mind-to-mind'_

Memory 

_Scene change in memory_

* * *

Chapter 1

A Stranger in the Night

A young woman, about seventeen, sighs as she brushes her pony. The pony looks her in the eye. _'What is it?'_ she asks.

The woman has brown curls to her shoulders and soft blue-grey eyes. "I'm just wondering what is up with the wildlife, Cloud. They seem to think something bad is coming soon," she says softly.

Cloud is silent for a few minutes. _'I sense it too,'_ she admits at last. _'There's a change on the wind, and not a good one.'_

The woman sighs. "Can't you do any better than that?" she asks.

Cloud snorts and stamps her hoof. _'I told you what I sense! I don't know what it is, but it's a very bad one.'_

The woman chuckles slightly at her pony's outburst. "Okay, okay," she says.

"Are you talking to your pony again, Daine?" a laughing voice comes from behind her.

Daine smiles slightly, not even having to turn her head to know who it is. "Ma, the animals sense something bad coming," she says, sighing softly.

Her mother, Sarra, is silent except for her footsteps towards Daine. A comforting hand rests on Daine's shoulder. Daine looks up slightly at her mother. "The animals always know before us humans when a change is coming," she says. Sarra is a beautiful woman, and many men in the nearby village have tried courting her many times. But each and every one of them had been turned down time and time again. "Listen to them closely, sweet; they may be able to tell us about when this change comes."

"Okay, ma," Daine says. Daine spies someone in the doorway to the barn, and recognizes it as one of the few men still trying to court her mother. "You got a visitor, ma," she says softly.

Sarra looks up and sighs. "Not again," she murmurs as she heads to the door to greet the young man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes filled with hope and lust. Daine smothers a giggle as she watches the handsome man try to swoon her mother, only to be turned down for the gods-only-know-time. He seems to sigh in defeat and leaves.

Daine finishes grooming Cloud before leaving the barn to follow her mother into their nice, but small, ranch house to help with dinner.

Later that night

Daine is awakened by the sound of someone pounding weakly on the front door and a horse in pain trying to plaintively call for help. She leaps out of bed, grabs her bathrobe, and runs down the hall while putting on the bathrobe. She unlocks and swings open the door, only to catch a soaked man, enshrouded in a black cloak that is pulled down to show a tangle of long ebony hair and a handsome face, before he falls to the floor.

She helps him inside, noticing the blood pouring out of a wound that goes from his naval down around his side to end at his left hip and burns on his clothing on the left side along with his arms being burnt slightly. Calling for her mother, she carefully helps the man to a nearby couch.

When Sarra comes running in and takes charge of healing the stranger, she quickly runs out into the rain to check the man's mount, a beautiful spotted horse. The horse is also wounded, burns and cuts all over his left side. Talking softly to the horse, she sends peace from her mind to his and giving the horse the knowledge that she will take care of his wounds. She gently puts her hands on the horse's left side, between the burns and cuts, and focuses until she feels something in her start to heal the burns and cuts. She can't completely shut most of the cuts because most of her energy was drained from healing the burns and the major cuts.

While she heals the horse, the fact that she is now soaked to the bone is completely nonexistent. She slowly leads the horse into the barn to find the healing kit for animals she keeps there to stitch up the remaining cuts. _'Poor baby, what happened?'_ she asks him.

The horse stares at her in shock for a few minutes before replying. _'Master and I were in a mage battle. We killed the enemy but he had blown up after to hurt our left sides,'_ he explains.

'_He's a mage? Can't he heal himself and you?'_

'_Yes. But he is nearly drained of his powers. I sensed one with the People in her and raced here as fast as I could without letting him fall,'_ he explains.

'_That would be me, right?'_ she asks. He nods._ 'Hold still, I have to stitch the rest of your cuts,'_ she says, having found the healing kit and retrieving some thread and a needle from it. She holds the needle to a candle in a lantern for a few minutes. Her mother has just enough of the Gift to enchant the lanterns to light when a human enters at nights; very helpful since Daine and her mother are awoken at all hours of the day and night to heal humans and animals that live near or pass through, or when a human or animal is birthing. She then quickly threads the sanitized needle and quickly, but carefully, stitches on the horse. If it hurts the horse, he shows no sign of it. _'What's your name?'_

'_Master calls me Spots,'_ he says.

Daine chuckles, she had noticed the gorgeous spotted pattern on the horse the moment she had led it into the barn. _'A very fitting name,'_ she replies. At last, Spots' remaining cuts are stitched close. She runs her hand over the length of the horse, checking to see if he has anymore wounds that have gone unnoticed. Finding none left, she leads Spots into one of the stalls and bids goodnight to him and Cloud, who had awoken when she led the horse into the barn.

Dousing the lanterns the normal way, as she has no Gift, she leaves the barn to race through the rain to the patio in front of the house. Upon reaching the covered patio, she quickly removes her muddy shoes, wrings her hair dry, and gets as much of the water out of her bathrobe as possible. Then she enters her house to see her mother is still healing the man. Her mother had removed his cloak and shirt so as to see the extent of the wound. Daine winces. The wounds that had seem mild with his cloak and shirt on are a whole lot worse than they had appeared. The cut she had noticed is much deeper than it had looked, he had first and second degree burns along his left side, and more wounds are turning his dark green pants a black from blood on his left leg. The man had fainted right after Daine had carefully helped him sit on the couch, thankfully. She'd doubt that, even with her mother's gentle touch, he'd be able to keep from moaning his pain at the very least.

"What happened to him? Did his horse say?" Sarra asks, not looking up from her patient; she has to keep her eyes on her patient so as not to mess up healing him.

"He's a mage, ma. He got in a fight with another mage and killed the mage. But the other mage blew himself up just before he died, catching him and the horse in the blast on their left sides," she says to her mother, repeating what the horse had told her.

Her mother shakes her head, never looking up from her task. "Too many fights these days," she murmurs. "I'm surprised there aren't any wars."

Daine shudders. "Don't say that, ma! Tha's a bad saying, brings bad happenings," Daine says, making a sign against darkness on her chest.

Sarra laughs. "Daine, I doubt there will be a war anytime soon," she assures her daughter.

Daine shrugs, noticing that Sarra had finished healing the stranger. "Where will he stay to rest?" she asks.

Sarra pauses in thought for a moment. "Well, we can clean up the room next to yours," she says at last.

Daine nods. "I'll get on it, you rest ma," she says. When Sarra moves to protest, Daine gives her a look. "You need to rest from that healing. You near drain yourself when you work on someone with that much injuries. His horse didn't have as many bad uns, so I'll do it." Before Sarra can reply, Daine has already disappeared down the hall to straighten up the bedroom next to hers.

It's the only guest room the small ranch house has, but they rarely get any guests so they use it as a miniature library, storing their books and scrolls in it. Daine opens the door and sighs upon seeing the mess. They only own four bookshelves total, each with about five shelves. They are crammed full and there are other books and scrolls lying all around the room. She quickly gets to work, moving the books and scrolls off and around the bed, putting them in a pile on the wall near the sole window.

She draws the curtains shut so their guest can rest without the sun waking him up. When she's done, she goes to the living room. She and Sarra sling the mysterious mage's arms around their shoulder and carry him down the hall to the room Daine had straightened. They carefully lay the man on the bed, cover him, and leave the room for their own beds.

* * *

Sarah: um, what do ya'll think? Did I keep Daine in character? Please review! As I said before, I _DO_ accept anonymous reviews, so that's not an excuse you can use. Bye! 


	2. Numair Awakens

The One I Love

DG32173

Sarah: woot! I got 3 reviews!!! Yay! Thanks so much, everyone!

Daine: she doesn't own the books about Tortall. She does own her story.

Sarah: **(sulking)** thanks for reminding me…

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_Daine doesn't learn to talk to animals mentally until after Numair starts teaching her:_ hehe, in this AU she can't talk to them, except Cloud, mind-to-mind unless she's within about two or three yards of them. Cloud, she can talk to for up to about half a mile away at the beginning. Thought I'd clear that up for ya.

_I've read the books twice and am on my third time:_ O.O wow. Me too! I borrowed the first two of the Immortal quartet from my niece and realized I love it so had mom order all of them for me and the last two for my niece. I've read all of mine twice since I got them just a week ago. That's awesome. I love the series. I'm trying to convince my mom to order the Song of the Lioness quartet and the Protector of the small quartet that go along with the whole Tortall series. The Lioness quartet comes before the Immortals quartet, while the other one comes after. Eek! I used too much space for replying to this one comment! I'm off to write the chapter now!

_**NOTE**_

**(Authors note)**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Scene change

**POV change**

'_Daine and animals talking to each other mind-to-mind'_

Memory 

_Scene change in memory_

* * *

Chapter 2

Numair Awakens

Daine sits in the only chair in the spare bedroom, watching the stranger sleep. He had been here three full days and was only up long enough for him to swallow some of her mother's herbal tea on a few separate occasions before falling back into slumber. She has a feeling he won't remember those times, as he'd barely been awake enough to swallow the tea. His horse, Spots, had become much better under Daine's care and is currently grazing with the other horses and ponies in the large enclosed meadow behind the barn. The man begins to stir and Daine stands up to move closer and watch him.

Slowly, the man opens dark eyes and tries to sit up, only for Daine to put a hand on his chest. "Ma wouldn't be happy if you were moving on your own before she looks you over," she informs him, gently pushing him back into a laying position.

He looks up at her, and blinks his eyes a few times. "Where…?" he starts to ask before he is caught in a coughing fit. She decides she likes his soft, almost shy voice.

"You showed up on our porch three nights ago, burnt and cut up. Ma healed your wounds best she could while I took care of your horse. You both was in pretty bad shape. You been sleeping since; your horse is in the meadow out back of the barn, grazing with our horses and ponies," she explains. He nods, finally finished with the coughing fit. "Hold tight and don't sit up, I'm going to fetch ma," she commands. He nods and she leaves the room to retrieve her mother from the kitchen.

A few minutes later, both women return to the room, and Sarra moves quickly to the bed. The man closes his eyes as she helps him sit up and removes his bandages to examine the wounds. The burns are now just scars of battle; most of the cuts have also turned to scars. But the cut going from his naval to his left hip is still bleeding a bit, not as bad as when he first showed up though. Sarra makes a hand motion to Daine, and the girl leaves the room, to come back with a healer's kit. She silently hands the kit to her mother and watches as Sarra applies some antiseptic gel on the wound, causing the man to wince. She then carefully wraps the wound again with fresh bandages. Sarra had checked the man's leg earlier that morning and affirmed that his leg has healed up nicely, leaving scars.

Sarra looks at the man, whose eyes are still closed. "Most of your wounds have healed up; but there is still a cut that's bleeding a bit, so I don't want you moving around today except to have Daine help you to the privy, understand?" she says. He nods. "Good. Daine will stay in here to make sure you hold through to that."

Daine sighs but nods her understanding; she had been hoping to go talk to the horses today and maybe ride Cloud for a bit. But the man staying in bed to heal is more important than her wishes to be with the horses and ponies. With that, Sarra leaves the room to head back to the kitchen to finish washing the dishes and start making dinner. The man's eyes remain closed as she watches him silently. "I never did catch your name," she says.

He jumps slightly, startled by the sudden comment. "Numair. Numair Salmalin," he says, looking at her with dark, dark eyes.

She smiles at him. "I'm Daine. Verdalidaine Sarrasri," she says. He smiles slightly at her in return, before closing his eyes again. "Let me know if you need something, Master Salmalin," she says softly.

He opens an eye to squint at her. "Just call me Numair," he says, closing his eye again.

"Alright… Numair," she says. She decides she likes the way his name feels on her lips. "Are you a mage?" she asks, noticing that the cloak laying neatly on one of the tables in the room. She had thought it was merely a normal cloak the night he showed up, but she can now tell it's a mage's cloak.

He nods. "How do you know?" he asks, not bothering to open his eyes. "And how's Spots?"

She smiles. "Your cloak is a mage's cloak," she says simply. "And I told you, your horse is in the meadow with our ponies and horses. He's just fine; I healed him up good for you."

He opens an eye again. "You have the Gift?"

Daine blushes. "Nah, just a fair good knack with animals," she says, grinning as he smiles weakly. "Now you must _sleep_ to regain _your_ strength," she says, giving him a mock glare. He laughs a little before closing his eye again to fall back into the welcoming darkness known as sleep.

After but a few moments, Daine sighs from severe boredom. She stands up from her chair and heads to the bookcases, skirting around the bed Numair is sleeping in. She runs her left hand over the covers of the books, searching for one that would interest her for a while. Finally, she finds a very, _very_ thick one that covers the facts and myths of Lesser Immortals, beings, not gods, that live forever if they are not killed or fate decides to give them a gruesome ending.

She is so deeply engrossed in the book that she doesn't realize how late it is getting until the light is to weak to allow her to read. She claps her hands once, causing the lanterns in the room to bring forth just enough light for her to read by, but not bright enough to bother the still sleeping mage. She glances at the mage slumbering in the bed just a few feet from the only chair in the room.

She takes the time to study his features while he's asleep. She notes that he's a good foot taller than she is; he has a long but appealing nose, _long_ black hair, and an overall handsome face. She smiles as he stirs and returns her eyes to the book, pretending to read it while he awakens. "What time is it?" he asks sleepily.

She looks up to see his gorgeous eyes watching at her. "Just past dusk," she replies. "You've slept for several hours."

He nods in understanding. Suddenly, the door to the room opens to reveal Sarra carrying a tray laden with light food and two cups of herbal tea. "I thought you two might be hungry," she explains at their curious looks. Daine smiles at her mother while Numair nods to signal he is, indeed, hungry. Daine gets up and helps the mage move to a sitting position, propping pillows behind him to give him support. Sarra sets the tray laden with their supper on the table next to the bed and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Daine pulls the table closer so that the mage can reach it. He nods his thanks before picking up a roll, his hand nearly engulfing the roll. She smiles and picks up one of the cups and starts to blow softly on the hot tea before taking a few sips. Then she grabs a chunk of cut up cheese and a roll of her own. They finish the small meal and their drinks in comfortable silence. By the time they are done eating, Numair is looking and feeling much better than he had this morning.

When finished, Numair's eyes scan the room from his position on the bed, noting scrolls and books crammed into four bookcases and many piles of both on the floor. Daine sees where he's looking and smiles. "We don't use this room for guests often, so we've turned this room to our own miniature library," she explains. He glances at her and gives her a shy smile, like a bashful youth watching a pretty girl he likes. She grins at him. "We've got books and scrolls covering so many subjects, you most likely _can't_ find a topic we don't have in our collection."

His smile broadens, white teeth flashing at her in his tanned face. "Lesser Immortals?" he asks.

Daine laughs and holds up the thick book she had been reading. "Right here," she says, handing the book over. She claps her hands twice and the lanterns brighten enough to light up the whole room.

"Nice trick," he comments.

"Ma has just enough Gift to enchant lanterns and such," she says. "All I have to do is clap them on. She's not powerful enough to enchant them so you can turn them off though. You gotta blow them out like normal lanterns."

"I could fix that," he offers.

She gives him a sharp look. "Not until you're better, you won't. Ma told you to take it easy and rest today," she reminds him. "She's the local healer here, and you should know better than to disobey healers."

Numair sighs and nods. "Alright," he says, opening the book to look at the detailed, colorful portraits of Lesser Immortals. "Amazing," he murmurs, reading the pages and studying the amazing detail of the portraits.

Daine smiles. 'He seems very nice,' she thinks. 'We share a common interest,' she continues the thought with a grin. She moves the table to sit on the bed near him and read the book over his shoulder. He moves to give her more space without taking his eyes off the book.

* * *

Sarah: chapter two is done now! Yay! I hope you guys liked the chapter. I altered Daine's personality very slightly. After all, her ma's still alive, meaning she hasn't been hunted by her own village. So I made her a little more outgoing and a little less shy. I hope you guys don't mind. And if you do, stop reading the fic because I ain't gonna change her personality back to the shy girl she is in the books. REVIEW! 


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